“Please let me go Gary! Please!” I began to blubber while still struggling to slip loose from his grip.
He wrapped both arms around me and wrestled me to the sand.
I pleaded once more before giving up, “Let me go, please!”
“That’s better!” he said relaxing his grip a little. “What’s got my littlest, bestest bud so upset?”
At first I didn’t answer and he didn’t push me for an explanation. He let me cry for a long time; just the two of us sitting there on the warm sand; me balling like an overgrown baby and him holding me while strangers walked past trying to act like they weren’t looking. Some muscle bound guy I sort of remember seeing around the beach came up to rent a surf board. Without moving Gary told him to take what he needed and to be sure he brought it back when he was done.